curiositypays.bsky.social
@curiositypays.bsky.social
Professional writer, editor, researcher, fact checker across many genres in fiction and nonfiction. Interests: history, science, human rights, books, theatre, nature, animals, learning new things.
Reposted
Know your rights, Illinois.

Stay safe and stay informed.
September 6, 2025 at 7:40 PM
If you'd like to be able to keep making your own decisions about whether to get a yearly COVID vaccine, head over to www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD... before noon eastern on May 23 to leave a comment. The government is currently signaling they plan to restrict your ability to do so. 1/3
May 21, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Sunset and stars over Haleakala National Park (www.nps.gov/hale/index.htm). Wishing you a peaceful evening, friends.
May 7, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Florida now has a new law: school libraries can't buy new books that use the name Gulf of Mexico to refer to that body of water. Someone should have told them that lots of books refer to places by older names (e.g., the Bible). Is it okay to use GoM if the book is set in the past? #MakeItMakeSense!
April 15, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Credit for the image to the Alt Smithsonian Facebook page. #FundMuseums #FundLibraries
April 6, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Clearly the penguin did something wrong since the administration put tariffs on uninhabited (except for penguins) islands near Antarctica. I can only think it's because he forgot his too long red tie. 🙄 A 10% tariff on penguin pebbles is going to make penguin courtship unaffordable.
"But I'm wearing a suit!"
April 3, 2025 at 5:24 PM
If you're over 50 or immunocompromised, here's another great reason to talk to your doctor about getting the shingles vaccine. A peer-reviewed study in Nature shows a 20 percent reduction in new dementia risk after vaccination! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia - Nature
Using a natural experiment that avoids common bias concerns, this study finds that the live-attenuated shingles vaccine reduced the probability of a new dementia diagnosis within a follow-up period of...
www.nature.com
April 3, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Let's be clear that nothing about gutting the CDC, the FDA, the NIH and other health programs is about efficiency. The return on investment in these areas is high, as are the savings from preventative health. yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/why-we-kee...
Why we keep going
Today thousands of health workers at the CDC and FDA lost their jobs—effective immediately.
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
April 2, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Cory Booker's record-setting speech in the US Senate was inspiring. Thank you @booker.senate.gov for literally standing up for what's right. And as a historian, I was so happy that the record he broke was the one held by Strom Thurmond who in 1957 was trying to stall civil rights legislation.
April 2, 2025 at 4:35 AM
March 31 is Trans Day of Visibility. You hope for kindness, empathy, and love in your life. Trans people just want the same. As an ally, I know it costs nothing to be kind to others, but it means everything. #TransRightsAreHumanRights
March 31, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Why should we want to keep NIH funding? Well there's this: "Funding from the NIH was contributed to 354 of 356 [new] drugs (99.4%) approved [by the FDA] from 2010 to 2019."
A pie graph worth keeping in mind as the NIH budget plummets jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... for 356 new FDA drugs approved
March 24, 2025 at 4:33 AM
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Donald Trump is trying to dismantle public education in America.

To every public school student, teacher, and parent: this is our moment to stick together and fight back.
March 20, 2025 at 8:52 PM
It's the International Day of Happiness. I hope you take time to do something you enjoy today, preferably with someone you love! 💜💜
a happy international day of happiness poster with a globe with smiley faces on it
ALT: a happy international day of happiness poster with a globe with smiley faces on it
media.tenor.com
March 20, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I'll add in the arts, healthcare, social security, repairing federal roads, preventing foreign issues (disease, lack of access to clean water, hunger, etc.) from spilling over into bigger problems that become more costly . . . I'm for all these things. I'm also for billionaires paying their share.
March 10, 2025 at 6:23 AM
A good turnout at the #StandUpForScience2025 rally/march on campus today. The crowd shot is only a partial view. Lots of good signs from science supporters young and old.
March 8, 2025 at 6:15 AM
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Tonight I’m joined by Doug, a National Science Foundation employee who was recently fired.

Doug was working to bring more scientific research money into the United States.

Firing him is the opposite of efficiency.
March 5, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Happy Women's History Month! Good things are still happening. Here's a list from last week: chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/extra-extr...
March 3, 2025 at 4:17 AM
February 27, 2025 at 4:13 PM
The fed. gov't ordered the National Stonewall Monument to remove mention of the TQ+ part of the movement that pushed forward LGBTQ+ civil rights with the Stonewall Uprising (1969). They want to erase trans and queer activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. Don't let them. History matters.
February 15, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Reposted
IATSE Pride Committee: Our Community is Under Attack — An Attack on One is an Attack on All

We will continue to be a union that fights for ALL of our members.
February 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted
February 5, 2025 at 11:42 PM
As a counterpoint to the negative news we're being inundated with, here's a long list of good things that happened this week (Jessica Craven's Chop Wood Carry Water). She lists ways to help too. As my mom used to say, "I can't do everything, but I can do something." open.substack.com/pub/chopwood...
February 3, 2025 at 4:12 AM
My daughter's cat. I took it on our last visit; we'd just startled each other. But actually this is a good photo of my current mood. What the heck is happening!? Finn and I would both like to know.
February 3, 2025 at 12:30 AM